It’s no secret that housing has profound impacts on health, income, education, and social stability, and yet the U.S. is crippled by an affordable housing crisis. Inspired by what she witnessed after Hurricane Katrina, Sociologist Esther Sullivan spent two years living among low-income populations, documenting the effects of mass evictions. 

Here she explains the surprising reason affordable housing is so insecure, and what we can do to fix that. Esther Sullivan is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Colorado, Denver. Her research focuses on poverty, spatial inequality, legal regulation, housing, and the built environment, with a special interest in both forced and voluntary residential mobility. 

Esther holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from The University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in English from The University of Chicago. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.